Rick Tomlinson/Volvo Ocean Race
Tuesday 9 June 2009, 14:45 GMT
With the fleet completing the Rotterdam Loop and heading towards the North Sea and the finish in Marstrand, the FleetBroadband Express finds itself still in Falmouth. Mark Covell, along with skipper Steve and mate Bruna are working hard to get it back on the water, and have hopes of setting off this evening.
The rest of the fickle crew abandoned ship Monday afternoon when it became clear the repair would stretch over 48 hours meaning the boat was unlikely to catch up to the fleet before the finish of the leg.
So it's been a long day of trains, planes and automobiles to get to Marstrand, where we arrived this afternoon.
According to Mark, back in Falmouth, repairs have been going well. The problem was diagnosed as a damaged propeller shaft, the damage coming courtesy of a line for a lobster pot that became entangled with the starboard propeller leg in the Celtic Sea. We cleared the line, but the damage had already been done and steering became increasingly difficult. We weren't the first boat to suffer after becoming entangled with fishing gear in the Volvo Ocean Race...but we hope we're the last.
So it was into Falmouth for repairs. Mark's latest update early on Tuesday afternoon was that they hoped to have the boat in the water this afternoon or evening for a short sea trial. If all is well, they'll get underway for Sweden this evening.
It was an unlucky break. For the first 18 hours or so after the start, the FleetBroadband Express worked according to plan. In extremely challenging conditions (20-plus knots of wind, two to three metre seas), it was able to keep up to some of the fastest racing monohulls in the world as they scorched down the Irish Coast to the Fastnet Rock.
The boat was a great platform to film from, as you can see by some of the shots Dave Kneale was able to take. The television images were impressive as well, and will turn up in the weekly shows that cover the Galway start.
Assuming the FleetBroadband Express arrives in Marstrand in time, it will be available for the race down to Stockholm, the Swedish in-port race, and the final leg to St. Petersburg. We'd love for that to be the case so we can give you live, and near-live coverage of the finish of the race.
We'll keep you posted.
- Peter Rusch